The ones we love
by The fishes
Summary: Remus Lupin visits the graves of Lily and James Potter to talk about Nymphadora Tonks. He wishes they could be there to attend his wedding and how Lily Potter manages to be there for him on his wedding.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: The potter universe belongs to J.K.**

A cold wind ruffled the trees in the courtyard of a small church situated in the village of Godric's Hollow, making the night colder than it should be in the middle of June. The non-magical community of the village blamed environmental degradation for such cold summers but the man currently opening the kissing gate to the graveyard knew that this cold was caused by dark creatures invisible to the non- magical community. As the residents of Godric's Hollow slept fretfully, plagued by nightmares and painful memories, waking up occasionally to comfort themselves that all this negativity that they were feeling was because of the bad weather, the man walked briskly, haunted by memories of carefree laughter and warmth. The man stopped abruptly as if forced to stop by an invisible wall, in front of a gravestone of white marble which seemed to shine in the dark.

 _James Potter, born 27 March 1960, died 31 October 1981_

 _Lily Potter, born 30 January 1960, died 31 October 1981_

 _The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death._

Remus Lupin's eyes remained unfocused as he stared at the headstone. He could hear them again, their voices, laughter, even the occasional teasing. As the wind stung his cheeks he looked up, as if electrocuted; staring wildly around before looking down again, panting slightly. He looked around again, wistfully. He wished Sirius was resting next to them too. He wanted to talk to all of them. He looked down guiltily at the gravestone. He hadn't visited them since their funeral. He wished they would understand that he had never stopped loving any of them; that he thought about them every day; it was just hard to visit them, to see their graves. Remus lowered himself to a sitting position in front of the graves as the wind ruffled his hair. He allowed himself a moment of peace in the company of his family in all senses but blood; the war would still be raging on outside but he needed this moment with his friends.

"Hello James and Lily" Remus said softly, and the cold wind ruffled his hair, he looked up smiling slightly and greeted the person he knew was there in spirit, "Hello to you too, Sirius." He smiled again, relaxing a little, looking at the headstone again, he decided that as soon as the war was over he would make an honorary grave for Sirius next to James and Lily and he would request to lie down next to them too. All of them should be bonded in death, as they were bonded in life.

"I am sorry I haven't visited for a long time. Losing all of your family in a night was difficult. I escaped to the muggle world to escape the pain I felt. It's not an excuse but it was just so damn hard. But I am glad I am here now. I know Sirius must have told you all about Harry by now. You won't believe how much that kid has grown up. I still can't believe that this amazing, strong man in front of me is the same kid that had screamed bloody murder because Padfoot had growled at him for getting too close to a burning candle. He is a perfect blend of the two of you. I wish you were here though. He needs you; I need you."

He could almost hear James laugh, the wind felt as if James was patting his back, telling him that everything would be fine. He smiled again.

"You know I never believed you when all of you said that there just might be someone out there for me. I had a hard time believing that anyone could love someone like me. Someone who turns into a mindless monster once a month but there is someone who doesn't mind any of it. It doesn't matter to her that I am a monster once a month; that I am much older than her; that I am poor; that there is nothing I can give her. She loves me. It's a miracle that she loves me and despite all my reservations; despite the fact that I feel so guilty for feeling this way, I love her too. I wish I didn't but I do and I am happy with her. She makes me so happy, sometimes, it feels like I don't deserve this happiness, that she deserves someone better but then she looks at me and glows and I don't know what to think or feel anymore. She asked me to marry her today. I don't know loving her and being with her is one thing. Marrying her and dragging her down especially with a war around is a completely different issue, I don't know what to do anymore."

Remus could almost imagine himself sitting in the drawing of the cottage not far from the graveyard. He could see James in his favourite armchair, Lily next to him on the sofa and Sirius sitting cross legged on the floor as he worked on the crossword puzzles in the newspaper. He could see James roll his eyes and frown at him before saying something along the lines of "Honestly Moony, quit being a drama queen for heaven's sake. She loves you, you love her. You are not a dreadful monster; you have a problem that you know how to deal with by now. It doesn't matter what a bunch of bigoted fools think, she loves you and wants to marry you, I don't see a problem."

Sirius would look up from his paper with an unfocused look and say "Oh! I don't know Moony. You are such a hideous monster. You keep your home so clean and ordered, poor Tonks would be hard pressed to match up to that, with all her clumsiness. If she marries you she would lead a miserable life in a clean and ordered home, being loved by a drama queen who would throw a fit if his shirt was folded wrong or arranged in the wrong order. The horror!" At this Sirius and James would start laughing; Lily would roll her eyes and smirk; trying very hard to control her laughter before smacking him upside on the head and saying "You are such a fool, Remus Lupin. Here is a girl who loves you and wants to marry you. There are people who choose to focus on the person you are. You deserve happiness, Remus. There is a war going on out there, it's sad as it is. You deserve some happiness, she deserves some happiness. Just marry her already, and I am telling you this right now, I will be your evil sister and plan the wedding, and decorate it with white and pink roses and the bridesmaids will wear sea green, it looks good on me that's why." She would crack a mischievous smile before continuing on about the food and music and threatening Sirius with dire consequences if he dares to pull some stupid stunt like he did on James and Lily's wedding.

Remus smiled wistfully at the scene in his head; how he wished he could hear all three of them making the same arguments, almost forcing him down the altar. "There is a war going out there" he said quietly, "You would know, now that he has joined you, Dumbledore is not here to guide us anymore. I will fight to the end. For you, For Harry, For Dumbledore; but what if it's not enough? What if we lose and she is branded as my wife? She would be hunted down and murdered for her choice. I want to protect her from all of that."

The cold wind slapped his face and stung his eyes; it almost felt like all three of them had slapped him for thinking of losing.

"Honestly, Remus! What is wrong with you? She is an Auror, she can handle herself. You won't die; you have to live for us, for Harry, for her. I don't see her being afraid of choosing you. It's her life and she chose you. Stop over thinking this. It will be fine. Now would you like a gooey chocolate cake on your wedding or one with chocolate chips?" He could hear Lily, first shouting at him for being an idiot and then comforting him with a charming smile and the idea of chocolate cake.

He laughed; he had forgotten how stubborn Lily was. Once she decided Sirius needed a haircut nothing stopped her from giving him a haircut. Sirius had moaned about it for a week, accusing James of marrying a "hair stealing monster". Lily had only rolled her eyes and asked him about the number of women who had thrown themselves on him after the haircut. That had shut Sirius up quite fine. Now it looked like, Lily had decided that Remus should get married.

He grinned at the headstone. "I guess it shouldn't matter. We will all be damned if we lose. I love her; Merlin! I really do love her. Maybe you are right, maybe I should marry her. "

The wind caressed his face, he laughed, and he could almost hear sarcastic slow claps from Sirius and James and a gleeful shriek from Lily. "Thank you James and Lily and you too Sirius. I wish you could be there, I know you would be, but I still wish I could see you guys. But I will always love you. I will visit soon I promise, probably with my wife." He grinned before getting up and walking briskly out of the graveyard. He stopped once at the kissing gate, turning to look in the direction of his family's graves and smiling before he walked out and disapparated with a soft _pop._

 **AN: This is a three chapter short story. I hope you like it. Please read and review. Happy reading.**

 **P.s.: I am still working on welcome home Harry, as well as a couple of more fics. I hope you enjoy them. Please do read and review. I need them to make my stories better.**


	2. Chapter 2

**_TWO WEEKS LATER_**

The wedding of Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks was a quiet and hurried affair. The people attending the wedding were the Weasleys, Hermione Granger (now a member of the Order of the Phoenix and the Weasley household), Ted and Andromeda Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Christine Delphy (Nymphadora Tonks' best friend and maid of honour), Hestia Jones, Didalus Diggle, Mad- eye Moody and for some weird reason Mundungus Fletcher. Remus Lupin was pacing in his room, wearing simple black dress robes, as his best man Bill Weasley, watched him from his chair. In a moment's time, he was going to walk out of his room into the old abandoned muggle church where Andromeda Black and Ted Tonks were married. He hadn't taken part in any preparations apart from choosing the invitation cards. Andromeda and Nymphadora insisted that the decorations and everything else be a surprise.

"Will you calm down? It's going to be okay." Bill said exasperatedly to the man in front of him. Bill had liked Remus since his first day in the order, but after his meeting with Greyback and his own wolfish tendencies and Remus' support and kindness, Bill had started looking at the man as his family, maybe even as the elder brother he never had. Remus cared for Bill as his younger sibling, but he couldn't admit to himself that he saw Bill as a brother. When he was younger, he had three brothers namely James, Sirius and Peter; he lost all of them in one night. Four years ago he discovered that he truly had just two brothers James and Sirius and Peter murdered James and Lily. He barely had Sirius back before he was snatched from him too. He would never admit that he looked upon someone else a brother; it looked like someone had jinxed him to lose his brothers.

Remus stopped pacing and whirled around, "What if this was a mistake Bill? What if she realizes that she made a mistake? What if she left me after we were married or at the altar? What if she starts hating me for what I am?" He hid his face in his hands, wishing it James or Sirius or both of them instead of Bill. They knew what to do; they would always calm him down with a quick comment and easy smile. Bill Weasley sighed "I have known Tonks, since she was a pesky first year in school. It was hard not to notice her, when she insisted on walking around in pink hair. Tonks is many things, Remus. I won't claim to know her intimately but I do know that she spent a year loving you without complaint when you were being difficult. Give her some credit, she won't leave you. She loves you and you love her and it will be fine."

Before he could say anything, there was a knock on the door. Ginny Weasley, Tonks' bridesmaid along with Hermione, Fleur and Christine; entered the room in a sea green dress holding two white roses in her hand. Remus looked at her surprised. Sea green was the colour that Lily had insisted on wearing when she had imagined his and Sirius' weddings because it complimented her hair. Remus was surprised to note that the dress indeed complimented Ginny's hair. For a moment, Remus almost believed that his sister from another mother, Lily, had walked in. His throat went dry as Ginny tucked a white rose in the buttonhole of her brother's robes, before turning to him.

She approached him with ease; Remus had a hard time believing that this beautiful young girl in front of him was the shy, unsure second year he taught at Hogwarts. She grinned at him as she tucked the rose in the buttonhole of his robes and stepped back to examine him before smiling and saying "You look good Profe- err.. Remus"

He blushed, "You look good too Ginny, it's a pretty colour that you are wearing; reminds me of someone very special. My sister in all but blood, this was Lily's favourite colour. She told Sirius and me once that she would wear this colour on our weddings."

Ginny beamed at him, "You will have to thank Tonks; she picked out the dress and the colour for us. From what Andromeda tells me, Tonks just walked in one morning and told her exactly what she wanted for decoration, the food, even the cake. Andromeda agreed to all of it, apart from the music, apparently Weird sisters' music is not proper enough to be used for the wedding march or first dance." Ginny rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up to the heavens. Bill smiled amusedly and Remus chuckled.

Molly Weasley ushered Remus out of the room as soon as Ginny left. Remus gasped audibly as he entered the church, the decoration was white and pink roses, just like Lily had envisioned them. Planning Remus and Sirius' weddings was a way for Lily to cope with being cooped up in their cottage. She would tell them all about her plans and ideas when they visited. Lily always claimed that since they were each other's family now and she loved the two of them as her brothers, she would play the roles of the groom's mother and sister; given the turbulent times, in case they needed to put together a quick wedding, she would have everything under control because she had a plan.

Remus and Sirius would humour a pregnant Lily as she would prattle on about the decorations on their wedding with simultaneous exclamations of how Harry's kicks indicated that he approved of an idea. James would smile indulgently at his wife and Remus would always be touched by the sincerity in her voice. She genuinely believed that Remus would get married one day and that she would help plan the wedding. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, as he looked around the church. It was a bittersweet feeling, as if Lily was there with James and Sirius, but he couldn't see any of them. Remus walked up to where Arthur was standing, Bill stood one step below him. Arthur smiled encouragingly at Remus as everyone else started filing in. Molly was sitting in the front with Andromeda who was busy dabbing her eyes in her handkerchief.

Before long, Arthur flicked his wand and slow music filled the silent, forgotten church. The doors opened and Remus' eyes bugged out as he noticed that the all the bridesmaids were wearing sea green dresses. He could almost see Lily smiling smugly at him. Dora and her father followed Catherine, as soon as Remus saw Dora, his Dora. All thoughts fled him. She looked beautiful.

Dora winked at him and smiled cheekily as she stood in front of him; before Remus could react Arthur proceeded with the ceremony. When he was asked to kiss his bride, he kissed her with all his love. He wanted to tell her with just one kiss that she was his everything. His anchor to this world where he had lost everything he cared for. He would do anything for her; be anything for her.

When they broke apart, she smiled at him. Petting his cheek as if to assure him that she knew how he felt about her, kissing his lips lightly she pulled him out of the church to the abandoned courtyard, which was decorated for the reception party. Remus for the life of him couldn't comprehend it. Everything, from the decoration, to the food, to the gooey chocolate cake was how Lily had planned his wedding. Apart from the music, Remus could swear that it was all Lily's doing. But that was just not possible. He remembered that Ginny told him that Dora had planned the entire wedding, but how could she know anything? She had met Lily once that too at the age of four and Lily definitely did not discuss wedding plans with the four year old.

Remus looked around for his wife, who was dancing merrily with her father as Andromeda watched on. Deciding quickly, Remus asked Andromeda for a dance.

"I hope you liked the arrangement Remus. I was going crazy with planning the wedding at such a short notice, when Nymphadora walked in and told me she had the perfect idea and went to plan the entire wedding in just one morning."

"I really do like it Andromeda, Thank you very much. The arrangements remind me of Lily. Did you know, she used to plan our weddings, Sirius' and mine when she was hiding. This looks a lot like her plans. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would say that Lily planned this wedding. I don't know where Dora got this idea from. Did she tell you?"

Andromeda smiled "No she didn't. You know how she is; she just barged in, dictated the wedding plans and then pranced out to do something for the order. But I do know this Remus, the ones that love us; they never really leave us. Lily might have found a way to be a part of your wedding."

Remus blinked his tears away, as Andromeda kissed his cheek and thanked him for the dance. He nodded, the lump in his throat making it impossible for him to say anything. The day ended soon. After all the goodbyes, Remus apparated his young wife away to the humble Lupin residence. Later that night, after he had expressed his love for Dora in more ways than he could count, they laid back, out of breath. Dora snugly fitting on his side, as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer as she rested her head on his chest. This was his moment of peace and happiness and he had never felt either to this extent.

"Dora?" he asked softly. "Hmm" she kissed his chest quickly before looking at him. He smiled. "Andromeda told me you decided on everything decoration, food, pretty much everything apart from the music. How did you plan it all so soon?" Dora blushed before pulling herself up and resting her weight on her elbow as she faced him. His grip tightened around her waist as he watched her bite her lip. "I had a dream." He arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Two days after you said yes, I had this dream. I was dressed in a bridal dress, standing in front of a floor length antique mirror when this red headed girl with bright green eyes, came and told me that they were ready and I should come along." Remus' breath hitched as Dora continued.

"Well, I followed her out to a courtyard with this huge tree in the centre; the tree was laden with these white flowers. As we walked past the tree, the courtyard opened to three different paths of stone. She led me straight ahead on the central path which was more like a stone pier opening to a vast blue lake. The sides of the path were full of pink and white rose bushes in full bloom running along the length of the pier ending at raised circular platforms on both ends where two stone dragons stood on their hind legs as if standing sentinel. It was beautiful Remus. It was perfect. I don't know where this place is, but it's perfect. I turned back to look at this huge castle like thing, I guess we emerged from there. And I saw you standing at the end of the pier, next to one of those sentinel dragons and I knew this was our wedding. The red haired woman was probably my bridesmaid. I didn't see the ceremony, because as soon as the woman turned the scene changed."

Remus held his breath. He knew the pier, the lake, even the rose bushes and he was sure he knew the redhead. Lily had always said that Sirius and Remus would be married at Potter Manor. Nothing said 'out of this world' romantic as marrying on the pier, with the great blue lake and the forest serving as the background. James and Lily were married at the same place, a month before Charlus Potter was murdered.

Remus was barely listening as Dora described the new scene but his ears perked up when she said that they were in a huge white room, with a really high ceiling and mirrors for walls. This was again decorated in white and pink roses, which complimented the interior decoration of white and gold. "And we danced and it looked so beautiful. Ethereal. Then the red hair girl, asked us to cut the cake and it was gooey chocolate cake. And it all ended, the dream I mean. Then I saw myself walking with the same redhead, she told me this is how she always planned our wedding would be. She asked me if she liked the idea and thanked me for agreeing to sea green dresses for the bridesmaids. Then she hugged me and asked me to look after you and love you and I woke up and I just knew that I want that for my wedding." She looked at him earnestly as he stared at her, the lump in his throat threatening to break free.

"I know it wasn't as perfect, but I liked the idea of the roses and everything else and so I did just that. It was silly of me to want to emulate a dream but it looked so perfect." She looked at him pleadingly, as if asking him to tell her that it was okay. He couldn't say anything so he did what was best; he kissed her with so much love and passion, that it drove all thought away from him. When they parted, he was hovering above her, he ducked down and kissed her neck; she laughed "I guess I should thank that redhead for the idea. I just don't know who she was, do you know her Remus?"

His grip on her waist tightened. He took his time, kissing her neck slowly, relishing her moans before looking into her eyes, "I know her; she was my sister. It was her favourite past time to plan my wedding, what you saw was her home after she married the man she loved. She always told me that she would have her way with my wedding. I guess she found a way to do so from her grave. It was perfect Dora. She found a way to be a part of our wedding, thank you so much for letting her be a part of this day." Without waiting for her response he kissed her. He needed her, right now. He was feeling too many things, happiness, love, pain and he needed her to soothe it all down. He pushed her down roughly before entering her. She moaned, her hands raking his back. He welcomed it all. He kept moving inside her, as he continued to bite her lips, caress her tongue. She didn't back down either, she pulled his hair, scratched his back, held him to her.

He couldn't hold it in, her moans were driving him crazy, he screamed her name as he came inside her, collapsing on top of her, before giving in and shaking her frame with his sobs till he passed out with exhaustion.


	3. Chapter 3

**_TWO WEEKS LATER_**

Remus Lupin sat comforting his wife in their home. He had just returned home after failing to locate Mad- eye's body. Harry had been safely delivered to the Burrow but at the cost of Moody's life. Dora who was Moody's protégée had held her tears till she reached home. Remus found her in the drawing room curled up on the couch, sobbing like someone had carved her heart out. Now she sat vulnerable and hurt in his arms bemoaning the loss of her mentor. Remus stroked her now mousy brown hair softly. He wished he could do something to help her, something to protect her from the pain that came with such loss. He wished he could protect her from the war itself. He scooped her up and carried her to their bed, laying her down gently; he placed himself next to her and pulled her to his chest. His eyes burned too. Remus had already lost so many people one would think he could handle his grief but each loss just added on to all his previous losses. The death of Mad-eye brought back the pain of losing His parents, James, Lily, Sirius, Dumbledore and for some odd reason Peter. He cried silently, stroking Dora's hair as her sobs shook his frames.

After what seemed like hours, Dora calmed down and wiggled a little. Remus looked at her as she pushed herself up; her eyes were burning with a passion he didn't think existed in her. She kissed him fiercely; when they parted she hugged him as if her life depended on it. Then she looked at him straight and asked "It was Lily, wasn't it? The girl in my dream, I mean." Remus nodded dumbfounded at her sudden mood swing. She hugged him fiercely again "Oh Remus! I promise you, you won't ever hurt like that again. I won't allow it. We will make through. You and I. I promise you that."

He nodded, holding on to his young wife. "And tomorrow, we should go visit them, I want to thank her." For the first time that night or morning, Remus saw his wife smile, he nodded again. She kissed him lightly, before settling down on his chest, he laid there stroking her hair, as his body gave in to exhaustion.


End file.
